In recent years, computer networks have grown both in size and in the number of services that a network can provide. The services provided by a computer network are accessible by end users if they have required access for the desired service. To the end user, the fact that there are multiple servers on the network is usually transparent. Login information for a user may be contained on at least one of a number of servers within the network. Typically, within most networks, user information propagates over time from one server to another to ensure that critical information is uniform throughout the network. Therefore when a user logs-in to the network it is important for the end user computer terminal to authenticate the user against the most current user information before granting access.
In a large network when a user changes some of their information, such as a login password, it is important to store this modified information somewhere within the network such that when re-authentication is required this information is readily accessible to grant the end user access. Usually within a network the passwords are stored on one of the servers within the network and typically this information is stored on a server that is in direct communication with the client terminal.
For example an end user modifies their login password, the end user password is now updated and saved on a first server in direct communication with the client terminal. The user now moves to another location within the network and logs-in on a different client terminal connected to a different second server within the network. After logging-in the second server initiates the user verification process. After the verification process the user is declined access to the network, and a message appears that the user password is invalid. The user now re-types their login information using their old password and now gains access to the network.
In this scenario the user password was initially only changed on the first server in direct communication with the client terminal; the information has not had enough time to be propagated through the network, resulting in the user being declined access by using their new password, and still having access with the old password. In order for the new user password to work on all the servers the user must wait for the updated password information to propagate through all the servers within the network before obtaining access to their account.
Of course it would be possible for the end user to utilize both passwords while logging-in to the network while the updated password propagates through the system. However using two passwords for a certain amount of time is disadvantageous and in some cases prohibitive for obtaining full network services. For instance, in a large organization there are external peripheral devices, like printers, hooked up to the servers on the network. Because of billing issues the printer requires a user ID and password before processing any print jobs. The user now wishes to print; however, their password has not yet propagated through to the printer server. Therefore, at the client terminal the new user password may work for the first server; however, when this server sends the print job to the printer server the print job will be rejected because of an invalid user password. For the end user this makes the network services inaccessible since at random the user may be prompted that their password is invalid. This dual password disadvantage means that users will change their passwords less frequently thereby possibly compromising network security.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a computer network which allows the user to change their personal profile (i.e. password) from any client terminal on the network, such that when the user logs-in to the network from any other client terminal their personal profile information will always be retrieved from a same server, thereby eliminating the need for having two different user passwords stored on the network.